John Hughes, the film writer and director whose credits include The Breakfast
Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, has died of a heart attack aged 59.

Mr Hughes, who directed a number of 1980s coming-of-age films, died suddenly while taking a morning walk in New York City, according to a statement from his spokesman.

He made a teen star of Molly Ringwald with 1984's Sixteen Candles about a girl's nightmarish birthday on the eve of her sister's wedding.

Ringwald also starred in The Breakfast Club, about a group of high school misfits during Saturday detention, and "Pretty in Pink."

The Breakfast Club was also instrumental in launching the careers of actors including Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez and Anthony Michael Hall. The young actors were part of the group dubbed "The Brat Pack".

Throughout the 1980s, he also worked with actors including Matthew Broderick, Steve Martin, John Candy, Kevin Bacon and Alec Baldwin.

Related Articles

Mr Hughes was also responsible for directing Weird Science, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, Uncle Buck and Curly Sue.

A successful script writer, he also wrote Home Alone, one of the highest grossing films of all time, starring Macaulay Culkin.

He lived in Illinois, with many of his films set in and around Chicago. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, and his two children John and James.

As he advanced into middle age, his commercial touch faded and, he increasingly withdrew from public life. His last directing credit was in 1991, for Curly Sue, and he wrote just a handful of scripts over the past decade. He was rarely interviewed or photographed.